Former resident competes for outstanding mom award

“My No. 1 goal was to be a mom,” said the former Mount Clemens resident.

She got her wish.Tocco, who now lives in Bellaire, is the mother of five grown children and grandmother to five. Her dedication to motherhood will get national attention when she competes next month for the America’s Outstanding Mom Award. Tocco will represent Michigan in the competition that takes place July 25-28 in New York. Contestants, who are nominated by their children and/or family members, comprises women who have been “exemplary role models in the communities and in their families.” Tocco was nominated by her daughter Renee.

Tocco, one of 11 children, learned from her mother Viola Kosloskey. “It was not an easy life,” said Tocco of growing up in a farmhouse on Moravian. “Faith was my mother’s greatest gift to me. She knelt down and prayed with us every night. You choose to be happy and seek peace through God.”

“You lead by example,” said Tocco. “You’re the biggest influence. We make a huge impact and you need to take motherhood seriously. When you have kids, it’s no longer just about you.”

Tocco home schooled four of her five children, and split her time between raising her family and working in her husband’s office.

“But the kids always came first,” she said. Tocco and her husband divorced 11 years ago, and she calls it “the hardest thing I ever went through.” But she said her children “did okay” and she believes it helped that “they saw I could get through this.”

Tocco also is known for her work as a public speaker, natural health care advocate and host of “Healing Our World” radio program airing 4-5 p.m. Saturdays on Republic Broadcasting Network of Rounfrock, Texas. She is “passionate about children’s health issues,” specifically autism. With a platform “Heart for Autism,” her goal is to “raise awareness about the autism crisis currently affecting 15,000 children in Michigan.”

“There will be 80,000 (children with autism) in the next five years if we don’t stop this trend,” said Tocco, who sees a direct relationship between autism and “toxins in the world” and what components are in childhood vaccines.

Tocco has been researching autism for more than 10 years, attending conferences, presenting programs herself, and working with physicians to help improve the “health and welfare of these special children.”

Just as she set a goal of becoming a mother, she has now set her sights on reaching “thousands of people this year as she travels to fundraisers and events around Michigan.”

But her projects have taken a personal financial toll, and Tocco hopes that maybe by participating in — and hopefully winning — the America’s Outstanding Mom Award, she’ll be able to reach more people “with my message on autism.”

For more information, call 231-642-7984, email mary@marytocco.com or visit www.americasoutstandingmom.com/.